ORNL hires science/tech deputy chief

Oak Ridge National Laboratory Director Thom Mason announced Friday that Ramamoorthy Ramesh of the University of California, Berkeley, has been hired as the lab’s new deputy for science and technology — effective June 1.

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By Special to The Oak Ridger

Oakridger - Oak Ridge, TN

By Special to The Oak Ridger

Posted Apr. 8, 2013 at 6:37 PM

By Special to The Oak Ridger
Posted Apr. 8, 2013 at 6:37 PM

Oak Ridge National Laboratory Director Thom Mason announced Friday that Ramamoorthy Ramesh of the University of California, Berkeley, has been hired as the lab’s new deputy for science and technology — effective June 1.

In a memo, Mason stated, “Ramesh will also hold an appointment as a Governor’s Chair professor in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.

“Ramesh has an exceptional record of accomplishment in fields that are well aligned with ORNL’s current scientific thrusts. In particular, he is internationally recognized for his work on complex multifunctional oxide thin films, nanostructures, and heterostructures. He has published more than 400 papers in areas spanning magnetic materials, recording materials, magnetic and magnetoresistive metal oxides, high-temperature superconductors, ferroelectrics, dielectrics, piezoelectrics and relaxors, semiconductor heterostructures, and advanced transmission electron microscopy techniques applied to materials characterization. These papers have been cited more than 35,000 times, making him one of the world's most highly cited researchers. Ramesh was elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 2011 in recognition of his contributions to the science and technology of functional complex oxide materials.

“In addition, Ramesh has been a driving force in moving innovation to the marketplace, most recently as the director of the U.S. Department of Energy’s SunShot Initiative and Solar Energy Technologies Program. In this capacity he set the science and technology agenda for SunShot, established funding priorities, and oversaw solar research and development activities at the Department’s national laboratories. His management experience in this and other roles, including director of the Berkeley Nanoscience and Nanoengineering Institute and the Singapore-Berkeley Research Institute for Sustainable Energy, will be a valuable asset in our continuing development and execution of multidisciplinary research initiatives that are focused on delivering outcomes.

“We will also benefit from Ramesh's personal commitment to and passion for the education of the scientific workforce of the future. He has successfully mentored many undergraduate interns, graduate students, and postdoctoral researchers, and I expect him to continue to build on the momentum that we have created around our graduate education initiatives with the University of Tennessee as we expand these activities and sustain our outreach in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics education.

“Ramesh received a B.S. in chemistry in 1980 from Madras University, Madras, India, and a Ph.D. in materials science from UC Berkeley in 1987. He currently holds the Purnendu Chatterjee Endowed Chair in Energy Technologies in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at UC Berkeley, where he is also on the faculty of the Department of Physics. In addition, he serves as a Faculty Senior Scientist, Materials Sciences Division, at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

“Ramesh recently returned to Berkeley after serving as the Director of the SunShot Initiative, working directly for the Secretary of Energy, Dr. Steven Chu. Earlier, Ramesh served as Associate Chair of the Materials Science and Engineering Department at UC Berkeley. He was previously a distinguished professor at the University of Maryland and a member of the technical staff at Bell Communications Research.

Page 2 of 2 - “Ramesh has organized a number of international conferences and symposia, and he has served on the editorial boards of Applied Physics Letters, Integrated Ferroelectrics, the Journal of Applied Physics, the Journal of Materials Research, and the Journal of Electroceramics. In 2001, he was awarded the Humboldt Senior Scientist Prize, the A. James Clark School of Engineering Faculty Outstanding Research Award, and Fellowship in the American Physical Society (APS). In 2006, he was named a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He was selected to present the David Turnbull Lecture to the Materials Research Society (MRS) in 2007 and was elected MRS Fellow in 2009. Ramesh was also awarded the 2010 APS James C. McGroddy New Materials Prize.”

Mason said Ramesh, his wife Sudha, and their twin daughters are excited about relocating to Tennessee.

The ORNL director also thanks Jim Roberto for serving as the interim deputy for science and technology.